-LRB- CNN Traveller -RRB- -- When the Roman Emperor Hadrian came to power in 117AD he inherited an empire that was overstretched militarily and creaking at the seams .

A massive bust of Hadrian 's head unearthed only last year is part of the exhibition at the British Museum .

One of his first acts was to pull the troops out of Mesopotamia , modern-day Iraq , a fact that is sure to resonate with visitors to the British Museum `` s superb exhibition `` Hadrian : Empire and Conflict '' which opens on 24 July under the imposing classical dome of the Reading Room .

Curator Torsten Opper says : `` No matter what our take is on the conflict in Iraq today , we can relate to Hadrian 's decision . Maybe 10 or 15 years ago , it would n't have mattered so much . Now it does . ''

Hadrian was born in Rome to a noble family whose origins lay in Spain .

One of the greatest of Rome 's emperors , he consolidated imperial power , was a patron of architecture and travelled extensively across his lands .

Though married , he also took a homosexual lover , Antinous , whose drowning in the river Nile on the very day Egyptians were celebrating the death in a similar manner of the god Osiris remains one of ancient history 's great unsolved mysteries .

The range of exhibits and their rarity means that this exhibition is going to be extremely well-attended . Visitors will , for example , be the first members of the public anywhere to see a huge head of the emperor that was dug up recently at Sagalassos in central Turkey and would have once crowned a statue that was over five metres high .

`` A year ago , this was still lying buried in the ground , '' says Opper . `` It `` s proof that Roman history is n't done and dusted ; that we are still able to rethink the past and evaluate it . ''

The exhibition brings together 180 objects , from 31 sources in 11 different countries .

`` It has n't been an easy thing to do , '' adds Opper .

`` Many of these objects leave huge gaps in their home collection and many are extremely delicate . This is n't an exhibition that can travel . People will only be able to view it for these three months . ''

Many of the most delicate objects are also those that give the most dramatic insight into Hadrian 's reign . Between 132AD and 135/6AD the Jews of Judea rebelled against Roman rule . Some of the insurgents took refuge in a cave in the desert , called the cave of letters , in which they were trapped by Roman troops . Few made it out alive .

The climatic conditions of the cave have preserved objects in astonishing condition . There is a letter written by Jewish leader Simon Bar Kokhba -LRB- enquiring about a delivery of supplies -RRB- , as well as mirrors , a jewellery box and an astonishingly delicate glass plate , probably made in Alexandria , that somehow survived flight into the desert and the perilous climb up a cliff to the cave .

Then there are three house keys , their wooden handles preserved , looking as if they would still open the locks for which they were made .

Opper says : `` They `` re immediately touching -- these were used by people to lock their homes thinking they `` d be back in a week or two , but of course they were n't -- they all perished . And there are still many refugees now who still have keys to the homes they once lived in . It `` s a potent symbol of conflict . ''

To the British Hadrian will always be associated with the wall that was built across northern England , an 117km rampart with a fortification every 1.6 km . In schoolroom history this has traditionally been seen as a defence against the barbarian tribes to the north , but it was n't necessarily so .

`` The wall was a ruthlessly efficient symbol of oppression and in the end it broke the back of the local tribes , '' says Opper .

Confirmation of this , perhaps , comes from two small writing tablets from the fortress of Vindolanda , the oldest surviving hand-written documents in the British Isles .

In one an officer , presumably writing to a colleague who is taking over his post , derides the locals as the `` little British , '' not worthy of worrying about very much - brief , battered and faded the letter may be , but as an example of high-handed imperialism it is hard to beat .

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London exhibition based on Roman Emperor Hadrian features new treasures

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Huge bust of Hadrian 's head discovered only last year a feature

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Emperor inherited a shambolic Roman empire and rebuilt it